MLB has always let the home team control the game starts for weather, and then once it starts it's up to the umpire. Has anybody noticed what the Nationals have been doing? They have a terrible bullpen. So, if the rains come an hour or so into the game, it means their starter might pitch 3-5 innings, sit, and then have to come out. They know they don't have the staff to limp through that. May 11, the canceled a game with the Orioles due to weather. It never rained. Last night, they delayed the game start with the Braves for 3 hours. It didn't rain a drop for two hours. They didn't even have a tarp on the field until 2 hours in, then rolled out the tarp when it started drizzling. The subway stops running from Nationals park at 11, so most of the fans went home. What a dick move. They never even made a PA announcement, according to the Braves' broadcasters. (Braves won anyway.) Should there be an impartial MLB official to make that decision, instead of allowing the home team to do that kind of "gamesmanship"? They do the replays from New York, they have the same access to weather maps, the umpires are right there. If you are waiting out a thundershower for 30 minutes before start, I get that, but 2 1/2 hours is ridiculous.
Damn people are stupid. From an article about Aaron Judge's autograph: "The autographed Topps Bowman 2013 Chrome card signed by Judge is the star thus far. At least 15 of those cards have sold on eBay for more than $5,000 each; the highest winning bid on a card was $14,655. The jersey Judge wore on May 28, when he hit his first grand slam, was sold by Yankees auction partner Steiner Sports on June 4 for $45,578. It's among the top five highest prices paid for a baseball jersey over the past year. For perspective, the high bid to a 1972 game-worn Hank Aaron jersey sold in November was $35,850." The collectibles world never ceases to amaze me. That's why I have a pile of PSA 10 rookie cards of players that were the darling of the market for a period and the cards are now worth diddly squat. I buy them when I come across them to remind myself why I should never fall into the "Hottest" rookie trap. Although a couple years ago I did buy a couple of graded Matt Harvey rookies...that's going swimmingly.
I still have my entire card collection, untouched. Mostly hockey with a lot of baseball and few football. I have rookies for Messier, Lemieux, Yzerman, Gilmour and Neely. They were worth serious coin in the early 90's.
It may not help a lot this year, given how poor the starting pitching has been, but for the next several years the Cubs can count on Lester, Quintana, and Hendrix in their rotation. That can get you far in life
It's the 4th inning and Washington is throttling Milwaukee 15-1. They've hit 8 home runs. In 4 innings. Including back to back to back to back in the 3rd.
And yesterday the Royals beat the Tigers 16-2, and the Marlins molested the Rangers 22-10. That's a goddamn football score.
https://sports.yahoo.com/adrian-beltre-ejected-hilarious-antics-deck-circle-052202806.html Beltre is a goofball. I mean, the umpire wasn't wrong, but it's not really a strictly enforced rule.
All true. However, the batter is trying to get a timing advantage by being closer to the plate, and the on-deck circles are already ridiculously close to the batter's box. The pitcher or opposing manager has a right to ask the on-deck hitter to move - either because they're in the line of sight, or if they think they're getting a timing advantage. I have seen that many times.* The umpire stops, asks the hitter to move, and that's that. Beltre refused to move, so whether he moved the circle or not (hilarious), Davis had no choice but to chunk him. * I've actually seen that several times, recently, in the last couple weeks. With Beltre drawing attention to it, I suspect this isn't the last we'll hear about this. Rule change or umpire's directive or something is going to be announced.
Double crap. M's rookie Mitch Haniger took a fastball to the face from Jacob deGrom today. He left the game bleeding from the face.
More money then brains: "The jersey worn by New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge in his major league debut in August 2016 sold for $157,366 on Sunday. To put the $157,366 price tag in perspective, Mickey Mantle's bat from the 1957 All-Star Game sold for $135,332 on Sunday."
Holy fucking Steve Pearce. Two walk off grand slams in four days. I knew the Jays were smart to grab him. Also, kudos to The Rock for getting put in Cooperstown. As a Montreal Expo to boot.